U.S. patent number 6,035,766 [Application Number 09/350,588] was granted by the patent office on 2000-03-14 for multi-heating zone cooking pot construction.
Invention is credited to Patricia C. Schirmer.
United States Patent |
6,035,766 |
Schirmer |
March 14, 2000 |
Multi-heating zone cooking pot construction
Abstract
A multi heating zone cooking pot construction (10) including a
receptacle unit comprising a receptacle member (20) having a base
portion (21) and a peripheral sidewall (22) which are formed
integrally with a divider unit (12) including a main divider wall
member (30) and a secondary divider wall member (31) which divider
the interior of the receptacle member (20) into segregated
compartments (28, 29, 29') including an enlarged compartment (28)
and two smaller compartments (29, 29'). The base portion (21) of
each compartment is provided with a looped heat transfer coil (40)
wherein the number of heat transfer loops (41) in at least two of
the compartments (28, 29, 29') are different to produce more or
less heat in the respective compartments (28, 29, 29').
Inventors: |
Schirmer; Patricia C.
(Perkasie, PA) |
Family
ID: |
23377371 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/350,588 |
Filed: |
July 9, 1999 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
99/403; 126/369;
210/467; 210/469; 220/555; 220/912; 99/410; 99/422; 99/448 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47J
27/12 (20130101); Y10S 220/912 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47J
27/12 (20060101); A47J 027/00 (); A47J 027/06 ();
B01D 023/20 (); B01D 035/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;99/330,339,340,403-410,411-418,444-446,450,448,422
;126/373,369,390,380 ;210/464-469 ;220/506,626,4.21,552,555,912
;D7/357,667 ;426/19,27,549,523 ;29/505,521 ;428/614,626,653 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Simone; Timothy
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Henderson & Sturm LLP
Claims
I claim:
1. A multi-heating zone cooking pot construction comprising:
a receptacle unit including a receptacle member having a base
portion, a raised peripheral sidewall extending upwardly from the
base portion and a handle element extending outwardly from the
sidewall;
a divider unit formed integrally with the receptacle unit and
including a main wall divider member extending both diametrically
across the interior of receptacle member, and upwardly from the
base portion of the receptacle member to divide the interior of the
receptacle member into two segregated compartments; and
a heating zone unit including a heat transfer coil formed in the
base portion of the receptacle member and arranged into a pattern
of loops wherein each of the segregated compartments are provided
with a different number of loops.
2. The construction as in claim 1 wherein the divider unit further
includes another wall divider member extending outwardly from the
main wall divider member to create one enlarged compartment and two
smaller compartments within the interior of the receptacle
member.
3. The construction as in claim 2 wherein the two smaller
compartments are of equal size.
4. The construction as in claim 2 wherein the two smaller
compartments are of different sizes.
5. The construction as in claim 2 wherein each of the smaller
compartments are provided with the same number of loops of the heat
transfer coil.
6. The construction as in claim 2 wherein each of the smaller
compartments are provided with a different number of loops of the
heat transfer coil.
7. The construction as in claim 2 wherein all of the compartments
are provided with a different number of loops of the heat transfer
coil.
8. The construction as in claim 1 further comprising:
a strainer unit releasably associated with the upper portion of the
receptacle member.
9. The construction as in claim 8 wherein the upper portion of the
receptacle member is provided with a pair of opposed catch
elements, and the strainer unit includes a generally flat strainer
member having opposed tangs which project outwardly from the
strainer member and are adapted to be releasably received in the
said catch elements.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of segmented cooking
pots in general, and in particular to a segmented cooking pot
construction having different heating zones.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.
1,319,878; 1,745, 592; 2,496,964; and 2,515,617, the prior art is
replete with myriad and diverse segmented cooking pot
constructions.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more
than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they
have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with
respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and
practical method of cooking different foodstuffs at different
temperatures in a single cooking receptacle.
As most cooks are all too well aware, one of the most vexing
problems encountered in the preparation of any meal is various
cooking times required for different food dishes and coordinating
those different cooking times so that all of the foods are fully
cooked at approximately the same time so that the meal can be
prepared and served in an expeditious manner.
In addition, there are many instances wherein either limited
resources and/or a limited amount of stove top space severely
handicaps a person's ability to prepare a variety of different
dishes for a meal.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a
longstanding need for a new and improved type of segmented cooking
pot construction that not only saves money and stove space, but
which also allows a plurality of different foods to be prepared at
different cooking temperatures in the same cooking receptacle, and
the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the
present invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly stated, the multi-heating zone cooking pot construction
that forms the basis of the present invention comprises in general,
a receptacle unit, a divider unit, a variable heating zone unit,
and a strainer unit.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the
specification, the divider unit is formed integrally with the
receptacle unit to create a segmented cooking receptacle. The base
portion of the receptacle unit is provided with the variable
heating zone unit which is selectively aligned with the different
internal compartments within the cooking receptacle.
This alignment of the heating zone unit relative to the base
portion of the receptacle unit allows different cooking
temperatures to be generated in the various internal compartments,
so that the selective placement of different foods in the various
compartments will result in all of the food dishes being fully
cooked at approximately the same time.
In addition, the strainer unit is adapted to be releasably secured
to the receptacle unit such that if one or more of the foodstuffs
is cooked in boiling water, the liquid contents can be drained off
before the different food dishes are removed from the receptacle
unit for serving.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other attributes of the invention will become more clear
upon a thorough study of the following description of the best mode
for carrying out the invention, particularly when reviewed in
conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the multi heating zone
cooking pot construction that forms the basis of the invention;
FIG. 2 is an isolated detail view of the locking engagement between
the strainer unit and the receptacle unit; and
FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the heating zone unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As can be seen by reference to the drawings, and in particularly to
FIG. 1, the multi-heating zone cooing pot construction that forms
the basis of the present invention is designated generally by the
reference number 10. The construction 10 comprises in general, a
receptacle unit 11, a divider unit 12, a heating zone unit 13, and
a strainer unit 14. These units will now be described in seriatim
fashion.
As shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, the receptacle uni 11 comprises a
cooking pot receptacle member 20 having a base portion 21, a raised
peripheral sidewall 22, and an elongated handle element 23 which
projects outwardly from a location on the upper portion of the
sidewall 22 in a conventional manner. The opposite sides of the
upper portion of the receptacle sidewall 22 are provided with a
pair of generally C-shaped catch elements 24 whose purpose and
function will be described presently.
In addition, the receptacle unit 11 further includes a receptacle
lid member 25 dimensioned to fit over the top of the receptacle
member 20 and having a centrally disposed handle element 26. The
lid member 25 is provided with a plurality of spaced recesses 27
whose purpose and function will be explained further on in the
specification.
As can best be seen by reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, the divider unit
12 comprises a plurality of divider wall members 30 and 31 which
are formed integrally with the cooking pot receptacle member 20 and
extend from the base portion 21 to the top of the receptacle
sidewall 22 wherein the recesses 27 are dimensioned to receive the
outer ends of the divider wall members 30 and 31.
The main divider wall member 30 extends diametrically across the
interior of the receptacle member 20 and a secondary divider wall
member 31 extends radially outwardly from the center of the main
divider wall member 30 to divide the interior of the receptacle
member 20 into one large compartment 28 and two smaller
compartments 29.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1,
the top of the main divider wall member 30 is axially aligned with
the longitudinal axis of the handle element 23 to both rigidify and
strengthen the overall pot construction and facilitate the
maneuverability thereof.
In addition, while the secondary divider wall member 31 is shown as
forming two smaller compartments of equal size in FIG. 1, it is to
be understood that it is within the scope of this invention to have
divider wall member 31 disposed relative to the main divider wall
member 30 so as to form two smaller compartments 29 of unequal size
or to have the divider walls 30 and 31 rotated such that the
secondary divider wall 31 is aligned with the axes of the handle
element 23.
As can best be seen by reference to FIG. 3, the heating zone unit
13 comprises a contoured heat transfer coil 40 embedded in the base
portion 21 of the receptacle member 20. The heat transfer coil 40
is configured into a series of sinusoidal loops 41 whose spacing
relative to one another varies in accordance with the particular
internal compartment 28, 29, or 29' that the particular section of
heat transfer coil 40 is disposed beneath.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention depicted in FIG. 3,
the enlarged compartment 28 is provided with the greatest number of
coil loops 41 whereas, lesser numbers of coil loops 41 are provided
in each of the smaller compartments 29, 29' to provide different
heat transfer characteristics to the larger 28 and smaller 29, 29'
compartments, respectively.
Returning once more to FIGS. 1 and 2, it can be seen that the
strainer unit 14 comprises a generally flat disk shaped strainer
member 50 provided with a plurality of strainer apertures 51 and a
centrally disposed handle element 52.
The opposite sides of the strainer member 50 are provided with a
pair of outwardly projecting tangs 53 which are dimensioned to be
releasably received in the catch elements 24 on the upper portion
of the receptacle member 20.
This arrangement allows the user to temporarily lock the strainer
member 50 in place on the receptacle member 20 such that the
inversion of the receptacle member 20 will drain any unwanted
liquid contents from the interior compartments 28, 29, 29' prior to
the solid foodstuffs being removed from the receptacle member 20 in
the usual fashion.
Although only an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been
described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily
appreciate that many modifications are possible without materially
departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this
invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be
included within the scope of this invention as defined in the
following claims.
Having thereby described the subject matter of the present
invention, it should be apparent that many substitutions,
modifications, and variations of the invention are possible in
light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that
the invention as taught and described herein is only to be limited
to the extent of the breadth and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *